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with the matter came before the Committee, after considerable legal argument and various
suggestions for amending tlie wording of the clause, the Chairman intimated that the
Committee did not want to hear any evidence in support of the proposal because the Committee
were satisfied as to the necessity for the clause, a statement which, if I may be
permitted to add as an officer of the Holborn Borough Council, caused me much personal
satisfaction as a testimonial to the sagacity of the decision of the Public Health Committee
and the Council.
Some amendment was made in the wording of the clause by the Local Legislation Committee
of the House of Commons. The proposal was finally passed into law in the following
form, when the London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1928, received the Royal assent
on the 3rd August, 1928 :—
(1) The owner or (in default of the owner) the occupier of any premises in, under
or attached to which there is to his knowledge a disused drain, shall give notice in
writing of the existence of such disused drain to the council of the metropolitan
borough in which the disused drain is situate.
(2) Any such notice as is required by sub-section (1) of this section shall be given
by the person required by that sub-section to give the same—-
(a) where any channel work or apparatus is a disused drain at the commencement
of this Part of this Act forthwith after such commencement or soon after
such commencement as the existence of such disused drain comes to the knowledge
of such persons; or
(b) where a drain or any channel work or apparatus provided for use as a
drain becomes a disused drain at any time after the commencement of this Part of
this Act forthwith after it becomes to the knowledge of such person a disused drain.
(3) Any person who fails to comply with the foregoing provisions of this section
shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding Five pounds. Provided that the occupier of
any premises (not being also the owner thereof) shall not be liable to a penalty under
this section for failing to give any such notice as aforesaid if he satisfies the court
that he had reasonable cause to believe that tlie notice had been given by the owner
of the premises.
(4) Proceedings for any offence under this section may be taken by the council of
the metropolitan borough in which the disused drain in respect of which the offence is
committed is situate.
Inspection of Workshops, etc.
The routine inspection of factories, workshops and workplaces has been carried
out during the year. 466 factories were inspected, 561 workshops and 3,566
workplaces.
It is found that changes frequently occur in the occupation of workshops. To
obtain information of such changes and further details of industrial conditions in the
Borough a large number of visits and inspections were made in addition to the routine
inspections mentioned above. As the result of these visits 29 premises no longer used
for the purpose for which they had been registered were removed from the register of
workshops. In some cases, owing to the introduction of machinery, former"workshops"
had become 'factories" and the necessary transfer to the factory register was effected.
Variations in the staff employed were also frequently reported. During the year 22
workshops were added to the register.